


time to wander

by jellyfishes



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: AU, F/M, Genderswap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-28
Updated: 2012-12-28
Packaged: 2017-11-22 17:05:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/612175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jellyfishes/pseuds/jellyfishes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I love you too,” he says and she hums quietly, her eyes drifting closed. Niall thinks she’s the most magnificent person he’s ever had the pleasure of knowing.</p>
<p>He’s pretty sure in that moment that he wants to know her for the rest of his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	time to wander

**Author's Note:**

  * For [zouis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/zouis/gifts).



“Who’s that?” Niall asks Liam when they reach the fair on the first Saturday night of the summer. They’ve been at the workers yard all day and Niall is still in his worn linen shorts and a faded shirt and he brushes himself down self consciously as his eyes follow the movement of the Ferris wheel. She’s sitting next to Louis and he only caught a glimpse of her when their carriage was at the bottom of the wheel and by now it’s halfway to the top again.

“Who’s who?” Harry asks, coming up behind them and handing each of them a dippy dog before throwing an arm around Liam’s shoulders.

“Next to Louis,” he says, gesturing towards the Ferris wheel with his dippy dog and flinging sauce onto the back of a woman’s dress as she walks past. Harry chokes on his mouthful and Liam groans, glaring at Niall, but he doesn’t notice, his eyes trained on the girl sitting next to Louis, her head falling back in a laugh. She’s got long dark hair that’s falling over one shoulder and she’s wearing a shirt tied at her waist just above her skirt, so a thin sliver of dark skin is visible. He gulps, passing his dippy dog to Harry and starting to move towards the ride. Their carriage is almost at the bottom of the wheel again and he breaks out into a jog, reaching the ride just as they pass the controller.

Ignoring the protests of the man running the ride, Niall takes a leap, his hands catching the steel bar just above their carriage and Louis cackles while the girl beside her shouts out in surprise. “What the _fuck_ Niall?” Louis yells as the ride grinds to a halt and Niall swings in the air.

“How’re ya doin’?” he asks, ignoring Louis and addressing the girl sitting beside her who is looking at him with wide eyes as though he’s absolutely mad. She’s gorgeous though, with these golden eyes that flicker in the flashing lights of the fair and eyelashes that brush her cheeks when she blinks. Niall’s never seen her around and he likes to think he knows everyone, so she must be from out of town. “I’m Niall.”

“I got that, thanks,” the girl replies and he grins.

“And you are?” he prompts and the girl frowns at him.

“Zayn,” Louis supplies, leaning forwards to rest her hands on the barricade of their carriage, the one there to make sure they don’t slip out and fall to their deaths. Niall can feel his arms starting to ache. “She’s here for the summer. Staying in the Winchester Mansion down off the main street.” Niall raises his eyebrows and has to think twice to stop himself from offering his hand to shake.

“So Zayn,” he says, smiling toothily at her. “How’d you like to go on a date with me?”

“Are you _mental_?” she asks, crossing her arms over her chest and trying to look away but he can tell she’s having a hard time of it when he’s hanging there ready to drop at any moment.

“Come on, just one date. I promise you’ll have a good time.”

Zayn narrows her eyes at him and glares, setting her lips in a thin line. “No way, not a chance.”

Louis laughs. “Denied Horan,” she says sympathetically, her eyes sparkling. Niall winks at her and turns back to Zayn.

“Well, that’s too bad,” he says sadly before he lets go of the metal rod with one arm.

Zayn lets out a shriek as he swings out wildly, his balance obscured when he’s only holding on with one hand and he dropped a few inches. “Fine, I’ll go on a date with you!” she yells. “Holy shit, are you crazy?” He smirks at her before hoisting himself up so that he’s hanging on with both hands again.

“Not quite,” he says and she rolls her eyes, looking over at Louis who is smiling wildly at her. Louis ruffles Zayn’s hair and she shies away before reaching out over the barricade towards Niall and he thinks she’s going to try and help him into the carriage, but her hands go straight to his fly, pulling at his buttons until she can shove his pants down his legs. “Oi!” he cries, letting go with one hand again to try and swat her but she’s already managed to get his shorts down to his knees.

“Jerk,” she snaps and he laughs, swinging himself forwards so that he can join them in their carriage. By this time Louis is almost in tears of laughter and he can make out Liam and Harry on the ground. Liam is looking up at him with his mouth wide open as if he can’t believe the stunt he just pulled and Harry is almost on the ground from laughing so hard. He can see both of their dippy dogs abandoned in the dirt and he lets out an angry cry as the wheel starts moving and he gets a chance to pull up his shorts.

“So, as I said,” he says, finally offering up a hand for Zayn to shake. “I’m Niall.”

\--

“You look very pretty today,” Niall says when he picks Zayn up from Louis’ house on Tuesday evening. He’s in his beat up truck and Zayn eyes it warily when she sees it and he gets it, the truck looks like it won’t even be able to start up, but he loves it and there’s no way he’s getting rid of it.

“I look pretty everyday,” she says, but she’s kind of almost smiling and Niall counts it as a point in his favour and he jogs towards the truck to open the door for her.

“Your chariot awaits you,” he says with a grin and she rolls her eyes, looking back at Louis who grins and waves her on.

“Are you sure this is safe?” she asks when he hops in the other side and he laughs, rolling down the window and cranking the radio.

“I’ve been using this truck for three years and it hasn’t failed me yet, so it’d be pretty unlucky if it chose tonight to blow up on us.”

The truck stops working halfway back into town and Zayn is laughing so hard that Niall doesn’t even have it in him to be frustrated, not with the way her hair is falling out of her ponytail and her eyes are shining so brightly. She blushes when she seems him watching her and he grins and hops out the cabin of the truck. “Looks like we’re walkin’,” he says and she gapes at him before scrambling down from her side.

“Are you serious?” she asks, looking back down the road like she’s trying to figure out whether it would be quicker to walk back to Louis’ place.

“Well it’s either that or have our date in the car.”

“Or just not have a date,” she grumbles and he smirks.

“Come on,” he says. “Cut me some slack, I already made you laugh.”

Zayn rolls her eyes and falls into step next to him, the long grass brushing her ankles as they make their way down the road towards town. “You don’t get to take credit for that. I was laughing at the indignant look on your face when your precious truck rolled to a stop.”

“You’re kind of a bitch,” he says with a grin and she turns to glare at him and ends up tripping over on the uneven ground.

“You’re a jerk who doesn’t even have a working car!” she snaps and he laughs.

“I’ll have it workin’ by tomorrow once I get it back to my place,” he says. Zayn turns to face away from him, keeping her eyes stoically away from his face until he can see the town approaching in the distance. As soon as she can see the tops of the buildings she seems to relax completely and slows down the brisk pace she had been keeping until then.

She turns to face him again. “I hope you know that as soon as we get into town I’m going to find the first person who can give me a lift home,” she says and his smile drops.

“No way,” he says. “You promised me a date and you’ll give me a proper one.”

“I don’t want to!” she complains and he grins at her petulant toddler act.

“Well you promised. Or are you not a woman of your word?”

The actually goes well once they sit down to eat. Niall takes her to an ice cream bar that he knows makes the best burgers in town and she actually has the guts to order one with the lot. He has a sneaking suspicion it’s because she thinks that he’ll be turned off her if she’s got sauce smeared all over her face, especially because she can’t seem to even fit the burger in her mouth.

“You gotta squish it down,” he says and she looks up at him from where she’s studying the burger, trying to figure out a point of attack. “Like this.” He demonstrates with his own burger, putting it down on the plate and pressing the palm of his hand flat against the top until it’s thinner and easier to fit in his mouth. She cocks and eyebrow at him but copies him anyway.

“Thanks,” she says dubiously as she raises the burger to her mouth again and takes a bite.

She lets Niall talk then for a while, yabbering on to fill the silence and it’s something that he’s pretty good at actually. He doesn’t let the table fall into an awkward silence and he even makes her laugh with a story about Harry once being drunk and Louis convincing him that taking a mud bath would help sober him up before his parents got home. They ended up finding him passed out, naked in their muddy bath and Zayn is cackling by the time he’s finished with the story.

Niall finally breaks off and smiles at her. “So other than go around laughing at peoples’ misfortunes, what do you like to do in your spare time?” he asks and she lets out a startled laugh.

“I – I don’t know,” she says. “I guess I like singing.”

“No way, you like to sing?” he asks and she rolls her eyes.

“That’s what I just said.”

“Yeah okay snappy,” he replies and she grins. “I’d like to hear you sing sometime.”

Zayn blushes and ducks her head and when she looked back up at him again, she’s smiling softly. “Yeah that might be okay.”

When they’ve finished dinner and step outside, Louis is loitering there and she shrugs sheepishly. “Sorry to intrude kids,” she says. “Liam said I needed to check that the two of you hadn’t killed each other yet and ask if you wanted to come grab a drink at the pub with us?”

Zayn laughs and Niall’s stomach swoops when she actually steps closer to him and takes his hand. “It’s fine Louis,” she says. “We found something to talk about.”

When Niall looks at Zayn she’s smiling at him and he wonders where it was that he managed to win her over, especially considering she was so dubious at the start of the night, but he’ll take what he can get and he gives her hand a squeeze before turning back to Louis.

“First round of pints on you and you’ve got yerself a deal,” he says and she groans but concedes and they follow her down the street.

They end the night with a kiss and it’s not exactly romantic given that Louis is sitting in the front seat singing her head off in time with the radio on their way to drop Niall home before she takes Zayn back to the huge place where she’s staying. Zayn slides her hand onto Niall’s knee and when he turns to look at her, she’s right up in his face. He doesn’t even have a chance to breathe before her lips are on his and her hands are in his hair to hold him in place.

“So contrary to what I thought, I actually had a good time tonight,” she says and Niall hasn’t actually regained the ability to speak yet after she kissed him, but he nods at her dumbly and she laughs. “Okay get going,” she says, pushing on him gently until he catches on and slides out of the car.

“See you later then?” he asks and she doesn’t reply before Louis starts the car up and drives away, but she was smiling and he figures that he’s won this round.

\--

Harry and Niall are mucking around at the end of the day, each of them with splinters of wood having a sword fight in the lumberyard. Liam is sitting on top of a tree stump a few metres away, commentating the match and Niall is so focussed that he lets out a totally unmanly shriek that he will deny later when a pair of hands slip over his eyes. “Guess who,” says a voice by his air and he breaks out into a grin and spins around to face Zayn who is smiling at him brightly.

“Hey,” he says, leaning in to kiss her quickly and she laughs, stepping back so that his lips land on empty air and he tips forwards a bit. “Rascal,” he says, grabbing her and pulling her closer to him by her hips. They’ve been dating for a good two weeks now and Zayn has finally given in and admitted that she actually likes spending time with Niall and okay, maybe she was wrong about him to begin with. “You look nice today by the way.”

“You say that everyday,” she says as she finally leans in and lets him kiss her.

“Well you look nice everyday.” It’s true though. Today she’s in a pair of soft green shorts that match her cropped shirt. He loves it when she wears clothes that show off a little skin, mostly because he’s sure that her parents don’t approve of that kind of attire and he’s all for a girl who breaks the rules. Louis is standing behind Zayn and she’s grinning at Niall as though he’s got the dumbest look on his face and he thinks he probably does if the way he feels towards Zayn is anything to go by. Harry is still swinging his sword around wildly and Zayn rolls her eyes at him.

“You like playing with wood Harry?” she calls out and he squawks at her, dropping the wood in outrage and Liam laughs.

“She’s a keeper Niall,” he says from where he’s sitting as Zayn races forwards and picks up Niall’s discarded sword.

“Come on curly, show me what you’ve got!”

Zayn has Harry begging for mercy after only five minutes of them swinging the timber back and forth, backed into a corner between the tractor and a pile of unchopped wood. She has the stick pointed right at his throat and she’s grinning like the cat who got the cream. “Defeated is a good look on you,” she says with a wink and Niall feels his heart beat pick up.

He turns to look at Louis who is trying to get Liam’s attention by unbuttoning another button on her shirt. “I think I’m in love,” Niall says, his eyes wide and Louis giggles at him.

“Probably Nialler,” she says just as Zayn joins them again, Harry trailing sheepishly behind her.

“Probably what?” she asks, letting herself slot under Niall’s arm and looking up at him, her dark lashes framing her eyes.

“Probably nothing you need to worry your pretty little head over,” he says, ducking his head to kiss the top of her hair and she frowns, trying to swat him away, but not really trying at all.

“Whatever,” she grumbles. “Lou and I are going to get ice cream, you want in?”

Harry scrambles up from where he’s flopped onto the ground and runs towards the car. “I call shotgun!” he yells and Liam groans.

“I swear to God if you two start making out in the backseat next to me I’m opening the door and flinging myself out of the moving car,” he says and Niall raises his eyebrows as Louis cackles.

“Don’t be daft,” Louis says. “You can sit in the middle if you want.”

“Yeah as long as you don’t mind if I forget you’re not Niall and try to cop a feel of the goods.” Zayn winks at Liam and Niall is left gaping as she skips towards the car, throwing a hand back to motion for them to follow her.

Niall looks at Liam. “Did you hear what she just said?” he says, eyes wide.

Liam laughs, his head thrown back and claps Niall on the back. “Good luck with that one mate.”

\--

“Where are we going?” Zayn asks impatiently when Niall meets her at the corner store after work. It’s hot and she’s got her hair tied up to keep it off her neck and her short cotton dress is thin and fluttering in the breeze. Niall is still in his clothes from work, but he figures that it doesn’t really matter that much and he presses a kiss to her cheek and motions towards the car.

“Ever heard the saying ‘patience is a virtue’?” he asks with a grin and she sighs.

“Ever heard the saying ‘he who hesitates is lost’?” she counters and Niall bites his lip to keep in his laugh.

He turns up the radio and Zayn opens her window, pulling her hair out of it’s bun and letting it fly back in the wind. When he looks over at her, she’s smiling, her eyes watering from the air that’s rushing past her and he can barely tear his eyes away long enough to look back at the road. “We’re going dancing by the way,” he says and she looks at him dubiously.

“You can dance?” she asks and he shrugs.

“I can dance a bit.” He smiles. “Besides, this is a different kind of dancing. You’ll see what I mean when we get to the barn.”

“You do realise it’s going to be hotter than the sun inside a barn?” she says and he laughs.

“All part of the fun my dear. All part of the fun.”

Zayn’s right, it’s almost unbearably hot when they step through the huge doors and into the barn. Louis spots them almost straight away and detaches herself from Liam and Harry to make her way through the crowd towards them. “Great music tonight!” she yells and Zayn laughs, trying to take it all in, the floodlights shining down on the dance floor from the roof and the huge speakers set up around the room. The music isn’t what she’s used to hearing either, a little less jazz and a little more rock and it feels like it’s making the blood pump faster around her body. “You guys want a drink?”

Zayn nods and Niall detaches from the two girls to go and find the makeshift bar. “Three pints thanks mate,” he says to the guy working there and carries the overflowing vessels back to them. “Here you are ladies,” he says and Louis grabs onto Zayn’s wrist with her spare hand, tugging her through the crowd back to where Liam and Harry are leaning just off the dance floor.

“Niall is a better guy than both of you,” she says, waving the pint in front of their faces and Harry shrugs.

“Don’t need to buy you a drink if I’m not trying to get into your pants do I Lou?” he says. “Then again, Liam didn’t buy you a drink either.” He snickers when Liam whacks him in the arm and Louis pretends he didn’t say anything, but Niall can see her blushing a little bit when she leans against the wall.

“Want to dance?” Zayn asks and Niall looks at her in surprise.

“Yeah,” he says and he doesn’t think anything could suppress his smile. “If you think you can keep up.”

\--

Zayn ends up at Niall’s place for lunch on Easter Day. He recruits Louis to pick her up on the way through town and he’s anxious by the time he sees her rusty car making its way slowly up the drive. Liam is in the front seat next to Louis and he’s saying something that’s making her concentrate on what he’s saying rather than where she’s going and he winces when the front wheel collides with a tree stump. Louis just laughs though and reaches over to consol Liam, which makes him blush because the two of them have a soft spot for each other that they refuse to acknowledge.

“Hey!” Niall yells when they all pull up and he bounds off the porch to open Zayn’s door for her before Harry can get there, shoving him out the way and into a sprawl on the dirt driveway that knocks his cap off. “Look at you, all fancy,” he says, gesturing down at her matching skirt and jacket. She looks gorgeous, her hair a bit messy and he guesses that she’s had the window down on the drive over, probably so that she could ignore Harry’s constant prattling.

“Bugger off, I’m having dinner with Mum and Dad later on.” Harry giggles where he’s still spreadeagled on the ground and tries to flick dirt on her and she glares at him, stepping over him to get out of the way.

“Leave her alone you piece of shit,” Louis says, hauling Harry up off the ground and pushing him towards the door where Niall’s dad is leaning against the frame. Niall presses a kiss to Zayn’s cheek and hooks her under his arm as he pulls her towards the house.

“You like duck?” he asks and she smiles.

“Love duck.”

“Then me old man’s going to be mad for ya,” he says with a grin just as Niall’s dad extends his hand and Zayn shakes it with a firm grip.

“You must be Zayn,” he says gruffly and Niall nods at her encouragingly. “I’ve heard a lot about you from Niall. You must be one hell of a woman.”

Zayn raises an eyebrow at Niall and he shrugs sheepishly. He can see the tips of her ears going red and he spares a moment to think that embarrassed is a pretty good look on her as she turns back to Bobby Horan. “I like to think so sir,” she says bravely and he smiles at her.

“Welcome to the family Zayn.”

\--

After lunch, Niall offers to drive Zayn back to her place and Bobby only agrees because he’s had a bit too much to drink and says he doesn’t want to be responsible for the Maliks losing their most beautiful daughter. Zayn laughs and tells him that she’s their only daughter just as Niall pulls her up from the table and threatens to hoist her over his shoulder if she doesn’t get her shit together and into his truck by the time he counts to ten.

“I’m not a child,” she says, glaring at him and Louis pipes up from across the table.

“Leave the childish bullshit to me would you?” she says and dishes herself up some more roast potatoes. 

“Just leave us with the food and be on your way,” Harry says, shooting a wink in Niall’s direction and he’s torn for a moment between taking Zayn home and staying to make sure they don’t eat all the food without saving him some, but Liam nods at him and he’s reassured, pulling on a jacket and guiding Zayn towards his truck with a hand at the small of her back.

“Wasn’t too bad was it?” he asks gently, opening the car door for her and she smiles at him.

“No, course not,” she says a little sharply. “It’s not like I was nervous anyway.”

Niall laughs at her and she tries to scowl in his direction when he hops into the drivers seat, but she can’t really manage it when he leans across the gearstick to kiss her quickly. “Well, if it makes you feel better, Dad told me he loves you more than he loves me now.”

Zayn grins at him and slides her hand to rest on his knee as he reverses out of the drive. “I bet he tells you that about all the girls you bring back to meet him.”

He smiles, one side of his mouth lifting up as he shrugs. “Wouldn’t know,” he says gently and she doesn’t think she could ask him what he meant if she needed to, not with the way the air seems to be sticking in her throat at his admission.

When they pull up at Zayn’s house for the summer she’s almost embarrassed by it’s decadence. She hates it when Louis comes to pick her up and so far she’s managed to avoid bringing Niall here, but it had slipped her mind and he lets out a low whistle at the grandeur of the place. “Nice shack you got here,” he says, turning to her and trying to smile, but she can tell he’s a bit intimidated.

“Pretty crappy actually,” she says with a shrug. “I think it’s haunted.”

“With what, the souls of the millions of trees someone cut down to make enough money to pay for this place?”

Zayn laughs and smacks a hand into his chest, tucking her hair behind her ear as she leans across the console to press a kiss to Niall’s cheek. “I really did have a good time today,” she says.

“Never doubted it for a second.”

“Cocky.”

Niall smirks at her. “Give us a kiss then,” he says and she thinks she sees him wink in the darkness of the car. She rolls her eyes and leans back in, her lips meeting his in an action that’s now familiar and comforting. He lets one big hand thread through her hair and tilt her head back a little, his lips slanting against hers a little better with the new angle that it brings.

“You’re so fuckin’ lovely,” he murmurs against her lips, pulling back a little to look at her and she blushes in the low light, looking where one of her hands is wrapped in Niall’s larger one, the rough calluses on his fingers rubbing against her skin.

“Think I’d better get inside,” she says and he smiles at her a little longingly.

“Louis and the lads are heading down to the lake tomorrow afternoon if you want to come?” he says, a question in his voice and Zayn kisses him again quickly.

He sees the porch light of her big house flick on and she rolls her eyes, gesturing towards it with a sigh. “Of course I want to come,” she says. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

\--

Zayn is waiting out the front of her house when Niall pulls up, Harry, Liam and Louis all squished in the backseat of the cabin where Niall banished them so that he could sit next to Zayn. “Hi,” she says breathlessly as she jumps up into the truck, leaning over to kiss Niall quickly before grinning at the other where they’re sitting in the back. “Hiya!” she says cheerfully and Louis leans over Liam to plant a kiss on her cheek.

The lake is deserted, which Niall finds hard to believe considering it’s the first really hot day for a week, but it’s pretty obvious why as soon as Louis steps in the water and runs back to them shrieking about the cold. Liam jumps up from the picnic rug that they’ve spread out and throws her over his shoulder, running into the water and chucking her in while she wails and laughs. “What’s up with them?” Niall asks and Harry shrugs.

“They kept mooning at each other on the way home last night,” he grumbles. “It’s bound to happen soon.”

Niall looks back towards the lake where Louis has just pulled Liam under with her and he comes up spluttering and launches himself at her. “It better,” he says and Zayn laughs.

They all end up in the water eventually, and it’s mostly Louis’ fault because she comes running out dripping all over them anyway and so there’s no point in trying to stay dry. Niall teaches Zayn how to climb the huge birch by the side of the lake and where to jump in so that it’s deep enough that they don’t end up braining themselves and she laughs so hard when Harry belly flops that tears stream down her cheeks.

Louis and Liam are all over each other until eventually she swims up to him and says, “You’re an idiot and I’m going to kiss you,” and then she does and that’s that.

Zayn raises her eyebrows at Niall and he laughs. “Well that’s one way to go about it,” she says.

“Yeah or you could do it the manly way and swing off a Ferris wheel tens of metres in the air,” he says with a grin.

“You’re just too brave,” Zayn says sarcastically, poking her tongue out at Niall.

“Yeah, I get that a lot.”

“Well, you’re going to need it tomorrow,” she says and he raises an eyebrow.

“What’s happening tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow,” she says, looking at him and biting her lip nervously, “you get to meet my parents.”

\--

Their house looks even bigger when Niall is standing out the front of it, right up at the front door. He’s trying to figure out if there’s any chance that Zayn’s forgotten to tell her parents about having dinner with Niall and he might be able to slip away unnoticed. But he could see how nervous Zayn was when she was asking him yesterday – it was a big deal to her and he knew it was important. And if it was important to Zayn, then he knew that at the end of the day he never had a chance at saying no.

The shrill ring of the doorbell seems to echo down the hall and he squares his shoulders, tightening the tie that Louis had forced him into that morning when he had swung by her house, desperate to borrow her brother’s suit. He doesn’t own anything fancy, has never needed to look nice in his life, and Louis had grinned at him cheekily before poking and prodding at him for what seemed like hours while she chose his outfit before sending him on his way. She’s even managed to convince him to grease his hair back a little so that it looks tidy and he feels like a different person.

Zayn opens the door to him and she looks flustered when she does, her eyes bright and she gapes at him for a moment before her gaze softens and she smiles. “You dressed up for me,” she says and Niall grins.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” he says. “I dressed up for your dad. If I were seeing just you I’d have worn yesterday’s shirt.”

She rolls her eyes and tugs him into the house, lacing her hand with his and he can almost feel her nerves radiating off her skin and onto his. It’s not exactly helping with the jitters that he already has. “Okay, my dad is really scary,” she warns, stopping outside a set of heavy looking wooden doors. “He’ll probably ask about what you do for a living and how much you earn and whether you want to do it for the rest of your life. I mean, I told him not to ask, but – ”

Niall cuts her off with a kiss, leaning his forehead against hers and smoothing her long hair back off her face. “Hey,” he says gently, his thumb brushing across her bottom lip. “I can handle myself in there.”

Zayn takes a deep breath and nods. “I know, I know.” She takes a step back and smooths down her dress. “I’m sorry.”

She’s right though. Her dad is bloody scary and he’s already seated at the head of the table when Niall and Zayn walk in, Zayn’s hand still clutching Niall’s like she’ll fall to pieces if she lets go. “Dad,” she says cautiously. “This is Niall.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Mr. Malik,” he says bravely and the gruff looking man stands up and steps forwards to shake Niall’s hand. Niall winces when his firm grip squeezes a little too tightly and he thinks if he listened carefully, he’d be able to hear the sound of his nerve endings dying painful deaths.

“You’re the boy who’s been taking up all our daughter’s time?” he asks and Niall smiles.

“The one and only.” Zayn’s dad frowns and gestures for the two of them to take a seat at the table. Zayn sits down between Niall and her father where he is seated at the head of the table and Niall puts his hand on her knee, squeezing it gently to reassure her.

When Zayn’s mother joins them, the three of them have been sitting in awkward silence for a good five minutes, Zayn’s father having returned to flicking through the newspaper that he was reading. Her mother bustles into the room, calling over her shoulder to one of their maids. “Can you bring dinner out now?” she says, voice raised, before turning to let her gaze fall on the room.

“Hey Ma,” Zayn says feebly and Zayn’s mother smiles brightly, making her way towards the table. She’s a beautiful woman and Niall can see that she’s aged gracefully. Zayn takes after her, with her dark hair and eyes and a body that he’s sure looked like Zayn’s when she was younger.

“You must be Niall,” she says when she reaches the two of them and he stands up from where he’s sitting to shake her hand confidently.

“Yes Ma’am,” he says. “It’s lovely to finally meet you.” 

“Likewise.” Mrs. Malik smiles at him and makes her way around the table to sit at her husband’s side and Niall slides back into his seat, chancing a look at Zayn who is looking at him with one eyebrow raised and he grins. He doesn’t really know why he thought he wouldn’t be able to do this when she originally suggested it.

Lunch goes relatively smoothly, Zayn’s parents asking Niall mostly about his family and whether he’s lived in town for his whole life. He asks them about the city and what it’s like to live in such a busy place, commenting that it must be nice to be able to get away to the country every once in a while to get some peace. “It’s lovely out here,” Zayn’s mother says, pushing a piece of hair behind her ear. “I think Zayn likes it.”

Zayn looks up from where she’s trying to stop the peas from rolling off her fork and smiles. “I love it here,” she says confidently and Zayn’s father looks up from his plate as well.

“So Niall,” he says. “Zayn tells me that you’re in the lumber business.”

“That’s right sir,” he says, placing his knife and fork down on the table to give Mr. Malik his full attention.

“Are you involved in the company that runs the business?” he asks and Niall almost laughs, only just managing to hold it in.

“Not even close,” he says confidently. “I’m just a worker down at the yard.”

“The lumber yard?” Zayn’s mother asks. She doesn’t sound scandalised, more so just curious and Niall nods.

“The very one. I’ve got a few mates that work down there with me and we manage to make the days go by pretty fast,” he says, trying to ignore the scowl Zayn’s father is sending in his direction. Zayn rests her hand on top on his on the table and he looks at her, startled, but she’s smiling at him as though she’s proud that he’s got nothing to hide and it takes his breath away.

“And how much do you earn working at the lumberyard?” her father asks and Zayn snaps her head towards him.

“Dad!” She’s angry and her nails bite into the skin of Niall’s hand as she tries to hold it in.

“It’s okay Zayn,” he says and she shakes her head.

“No, it’s not.” Her eyes meet her fathers, her chin tilted up in defiance. “It’s rude and you shouldn’t have to answer that question.”

“I’ve asked the boy and honest question,” her father says. “And if he doesn’t mind giving me an honest answer then I don’t see the problem here.”

“The problem is,” Zayn says, cutting in, “that what Niall earns is none of your – ”

“I’d say I earn about twelve dollars a week, depending on how much I muck around at work,” Niall says with a grin and he’s surprised to hear Zayn’s mother let out a chuckle across the table. When he looks up at her, she winks at him, almost too fast for him to see and he’s certain that if he’d blinked, he would have missed it, but it’s reassuring to know that someone is on his side.

Zayn’s father is glaring at him properly now and he narrows his eyes at the grin stretched across Niall’s face. “I’m just not sure twelve dollars a week is good enough for Zayn,” he says and Niall feels Zayn bristle where she is sitting next to him.

“With all due respect sir,” he says. “I think that Zayn is old enough to decide for herself what’s good for her.”

Zayn pushes her chair back from the table and lets the napkin that was covering her lap fall to the floor. “I can’t believe you,” she snaps at her father and is halfway to the door before Niall even has a chance to turn around to watch her leave and he’s left there at the table with Zayn’s mother gnawing on her lip opposite him and her father’s face turning darker by the second.

“I think you ought to leave son,” he says and Niall nods, standing up.

“I think you’re probably right.” He turns to Mrs. Malik. “Thank you for the lovely dinner,” he says and turns to leave, smiling tightly at the maid who opens the door for him. There’s a tightness in his belly and he can’t help but feel awful at the fact that the night didn’t come close to the dinner that Zayn had probably planned in her mind and he’s angry – angry that her father has ruined the evening and angry that he can’t be someone that her parents approve of. “You know what?” he says, turning around to face her parents again as their eyes fly to his face. “Zayn could do a lot worse than me.” He doesn’t bother to shut the door behind him as he leaves the room and heads straight for the front door that he knows Zayn has disappeared through if the fact that it’s hanging open is anything to go by.

She’s leaning against his car and she sighs when she sees him approaching. “I’m sorry,” she says and he shrugs.

“Could have been worse.”

“Don’t see how,” she grumbles and he laughs, leaning into her and kissing the end of her nose.

“Your old man could have threatened to shoot me or somethin’,” he suggests and she lets out a frustrated laugh.

“Is it bad that I wouldn’t put it past him?” she asks. 

Niall thinks her eyes look particularly beautiful like this, when he thinks that if he squinted, he’d be able to see the stars reflected in them. She shivers in the cool night air and he wraps his arms around her, resting his chin on the top of her head and rubbing a hand up and down her back. “I love you,” he murmurs and she only freezes for a second to take it in before she relaxes against him.

“I love you too.”

\--

Zayn laughs when she sees the checked blanket already laid out in the back of Niall’s truck when he parks it by the lake. “Came prepared did you?” she asks and he can feel himself blushing as he laughs.

“I didn’t mean for it to – ”

She laughs loudly and he breaks off to smile at her because he honestly hasn’t even heard anything as beautiful as her laugh. “I’m kidding Ni,” she says gently, accepting the hand he offers her to help her up into the back of the truck. Her skirt rides up a little and he closes his eyes and gulps heavily at the view of her long, smooth legs as he clambers over the side of the truck himself and sits himself down next to her.

Her hands have disappeared inside the picnic basket that he packed earlier and she pulls out the bottle of wine that he packed, grinning at him. “Trying to get me drunk?” she asks and he chuckles.

“Wouldn’t have to try that hard,” he says and she whacks him in the arm with her hand, twisting the corkscrew into the wine before taking a swig.

They stay like that for a while, eventually lying back on the blanket with another one spread over the top of them, mostly just to keep the bugs off, their jackets bundled up under their heads as they pass the wine back and forth between them. Zayn turns to him and smiles lazily.

“You know, this isn’t really what I expected my summer to be like,” she says and he rolls onto his side to face her.

“What? You thought you’d meet some handsome, wealthy beau who you could ride off into the sunset with on white horses?” Zayn giggles and he thinks that she would never be caught giggling if she weren’t a little tipsy. It makes his heart swell with a fondness that he didn’t know he had.

“You mean you haven’t got horses for us to ride off into the sunset on?” she asks and he laughs.

“We can ride off into the sunset on top of Liam and Harry if you like.”

“Can’t do that,” Zayn says. “Liam’s got a hot date with Louis and Harry’s got a hot date with – ”

“His hand?” Niall supplies and Zayn chokes a little on the mouthful of wine that she’s just taken. “That’s too bad,” Niall says. “We might have to spend some time just the two of us.”

Zayn turns on her side and shuffles a little bit closer to him until her nose is touching his and her eyes sparkle in the fading light. “I think it’s pretty clear by now that I hate spending time with you,” she teases, ducking her head so she can press a quick kiss to his lips before leaning back again.

Niall whines low in the back of his throat, reaching out a hand to fan across her jaw to keep her in place as he moves in to kiss her again. Her lips are impossibly soft against hers and he can barely hold in a groan when her tongue parts his lips and flicks along the back of her teeth. For a city girl she sure knows how to kiss and it drives him absolutely crazy. He can feel her hands move from his hair to trace down his arms before settling at the bottom of his shirt. He smiles against her lips and pulls back enough to mumble, “Are you trying to take advantage of me Miss Malik?”

Zayn laughs and pushes her hands under his shirt properly, rucking it up until it’s bunched up around his armpits uncomfortably. “Do you want to be taken advantage of?” she asks and he feels his stomach swoop as he pulls her closer to him again, his forehead resting against hers.

“Fuck yes,” he says, his own hands flying to her waist to grip her tightly as he reconnects his lips with hers. She wriggles around in his grasp a little before letting go of him and sitting up.

“Hold on a sec,” she says, frowning down at her dotty cotton dress. “Couldn’t have worn a dress with more bloody buttons,” she grumbles, her nimble fingers fiddling with the long line of buttons down the front of her dress. She looks up at him where he’s watching her intently and blushes before smiling prettily. “You okay with me taking this off?” she asks and he rolls his eyes at her.

“You’re kidding right?” he asks, scooting towards her to push the material off her shoulders so that it pools around her waist. She’s not wearing a bra underneath the dress and he licks his lips and tries to swallow, but his mouth feels dry and he is pliant under her hands when she lifts his arms up to pull his shirt over his head, grinning at him.

“You alright Niall?” she asks and he blushes, his rough hands falling to her waist again and pushing her back on the blanket so that he’s hovering over her.

“You’re so beautiful,” he whispers, brushing his lips along her jaw as his hands travel up the smooth skin of her sides. When he kisses her again it’s messier than the last time, his tongue immediately sweeping against Zayn’s, her mouth hot and wet and willing.

“Smooth talker,” she croaks out when he leans back to kiss down her neck and across her exposed skin and the way her voice sounds a little wrecked makes him smile, his teeth nipping at her collarbone before he swirls a tongue across her nipple, cupping her breast in one hand. He doesn’t really know what he’s doing so he relies a little on the stories Harry’s told him about fooling around with girls out the back of the pub and a lot on his instinct and the sounds Zayn is making when she thinks she’s doing a good job of keeping them in.

Zayn squirms a little underneath him and eventually manages to get her hands between the two of them and at his fly, flicking open the buttons and he’s momentarily transported back to the moment that they met and Zayn pulled his shorts down in front of everyone at the fair right after agreeing to go on a date with him. It has his heart beating a little faster because so much has happened in just a few short months and he doesn’t want to think about the fact that in a week, Summer is over. But Zayn is cupping his hard on through his boxers and he really doesn’t have time to think about that as he rolls off her quickly to pull off his shorts and boxers in one go.

When he rolls back over, Zayn is grinning at him, an eyebrow raised. “Bit presumptuous?” she teases and he laughs.

“Says the lady who had her hand on me dick not two minutes ago,” he says and she shrugs, biting her lip between her teeth to stop herself from laughing, but he can tell and he leans over her, kissing her and tickling her sides until she’s laughing.

“I love you,” she says, looking up at him, her eyes soft and Niall feels his heart thump hard in his chest.

“Love you too Zayner.” She grins at him, pecking him on the lips before shimmying her hips to get rid of her dress and kicks it off her feet so that it falls in a heap at the end of the truck and she’s left only in her underwear.

“Want to do the honours?” she asks and he’s smiling so hard he feels like his face is about to split in two because he always thought sex was something to be nervous about and the build up was something worth freaking out about, but with Zayn, it feels like the most fun he’s ever had and they haven’t even go to the best part yet. He presses a kiss to the inside of her thigh as he reaches for her underwear, sliding it down her legs gently before moving back up to kiss her and pulling the blanket up over the two of them.

“You okay?” he asks and the corner of her mouth lifts in a half smile.

“Bit nervous,” she admits and there’s a light blush dusting her cheeks, her hair fanned around her head. Niall thinks she’s never looked so stunning. “I’ve never done this before.”

Niall smiles at her and kisses the tip of her nose. “Me neither,” he says sheepishly, but it makes her smile and that was all he was aiming for.

“Niall,” she says, looking at him seriously and it feels important, so he hums in reply, letting her continue. “I’d just really like it if you put your dick in me now.” She can barely make it through the sentence without laughing and Niall lets out a startled laugh, kissing her cheek as he lowers a hand to push against the inside of her knee until she relaxes and lets her legs fall apart so that he can fit himself more easily between them. He can feel the tip of his erection brushing against the seam where her thigh reaches the rest of her body and he bucks his hips forwards involuntarily, groaning at the feeling as he slides against her skin.

“You sure about this?” he asks as he lines himself up. “Might hurt a bit.”

“Get on with it,” she says impatiently and cants her hips downwards so that his cock slides against the slick folds of her cunt.

“Fuck,” he groans and readjusts himself before pushing himself inside her in one smooth, long thrust. She’s breathing heavily underneath him, her chest flushed and moving up and down with each breath that she takes, her eyes closed. “Zayn,” he says gently and her eyes flutter open and she looks up at him. He can see that her eyes are a little watery, but she’s smiling at him like she can’t believe he’s real and there and inside of her and if he’s honest, he knows exactly how she feels.

“I’m okay,” she says. “Hurt a little, but it’s okay now.” Niall looks at her dubiously and she rolls her eyes at the same time as she rolls her hips down towards his, making him slide into her a little deeper and he clutches tightly at the blanket on either side of her head. “Seriously Niall, move.”

He starts slow, trying to keep himself in control because he knows he’ll lose it in a second if he lets himself go too quickly and he thrusts into her shallowly, building up a steady rhythm before he starts to move a bit faster, his hips snapping towards hers as her hands clutch at his back. She twists the fingers of one hand into his hair and pulls him down so that he can meet her lips in a messy kiss as she moves with him, one leg coming up to wrap around his hip and he gasps against her lips as the new angle allows him to slide deeper inside her.

“Niall,” she moans into his mouth and he cups his hand around one of her breasts again, letting his thumb brush over her nipple until it hardens and he can roll it between his fingers. She arches her back beneath him and he kisses her neck, sucking gently before soothing the skin with a flick of his tongue. “’M close,” she mumbles and he smiles into the skin of her neck, dropping his hand to rub against her clit, his dick still driving into her cunt. He looks down between their bodies and hisses out a curse, almost losing it at the sight of him moving in her.

Zayn’s breath hitches and her hands tighten where they’re clutched in the blanket on either side of her as her eyes fly open and meet Niall’s, pupils blown as she flutters around him, her orgasm sweeping over her. Niall lets himself go, spilling inside her with a groan and burying his face in the crook of her neck. Her skin is slightly sweaty and he breathes it in, his eyes closed, lashes brushing against her skin a little. He presses a kiss there and rolls off of her, pulling the blanket up over the two of them and wrapping an arm around her waist.

She’s quiet for a moment and he lets her catch her breath, peppering kisses across her shoulder until she works up the energy to roll over and face him, meeting his lips in a proper kiss. “Love you,” she says, smiling at him and snuggling closer to him under the blanket. She’s blinking slowly and her movements are becoming slow and languid and he kisses her cheek, smoothing the blanket over her properly and making sure she’s comfortable.

“I love you too,” he says and she hums quietly, her eyes drifting closed. Niall thinks she’s the most magnificent person he’s ever had the pleasure of knowing.

He’s pretty sure in that moment that he wants to know her for the rest of his life.

\--

Niall wakes up the next Sunday to Louis jumping on the end of his bed and he groans, cracking his eyes open to glare at her.

“Get up you Irish bastard,” she yells. “It’s Zayn’s last day!”

Liam is leaning against the doorframe smiling fondly at her and Niall misses the days when Liam at least tried to hide the heart eyes when he was looking at Louis. Now it’s almost sickening to behold, especially when Louis turns around to see him standing there and replicates the look almost exactly, blowing a kiss in her boyfriend’s direction.

“Harry’s picking Zayn up and we’re meeting the two of them down at the pub,” Liam says, pushing himself off the door and wrapping an arm around Louis when she moves to stand next to him. Niall rolls out of bed and pulls on a pair of jeans and a shirt, rolling the sleeves up and running a hand through his hair before giving up on it completely.

“Let’s just go,” he says, following the two of them out the door and calling out a “Mornin’!” to his dad as he passes the kitchen.

Louis’ car is waiting in the drive and she swats Liam’s hand away when he goes to put the jazz station on and tells him that Niall gets to choose the music because he’s the one who’s saying goodbye to the love of his life today and Liam can get his pick over the radio station when _she_ is the one who’s going away for a year. Niall laughs and flicks the station onto jazz anyway. Liam looks at him sheepishly and Niall leans forward to ruffle his hair.

“No worries Leemo,” he says, grinning. “You’re the only one of us with any decent taste in tunes anyway.”

When they get to the pub, Harry’s car is already parked out the front and Louis squeezes her car in behind it and it’s so tight that the front of her car is nudging the back of Harry’s, but she assures an anxious Liam that he won’t give a toss once he’s got a few beers in him. “Honestly Liam,” she says. “You worry about the most pointless things when you could be worried about the fact that Zayn is leaving in a few hours.” Niall pretends he hasn’t heard her but he feels a pinch in his gut anyway.

Zayn looks beautiful, her hair pulled up in a tight ponytail and a long, sleeveless dress made of a red floral material falling gracefully down her narrow frame. She’s laughing at something Harry is saying as he gestures wildly, so Niall figures it’s another one of his dumb stories and her lips are painted a bright crimson. He’s overcome with a want to kiss the lipstick right off her mouth.

“Hi love,” he says, hopping up onto the barstool next to her and dotting a kiss on her cheek. “Y’ look nice today.” Zayn smiles at him and laces her fingers with his, sipping the drink that Harry’s obviously bought her and Niall grins at him before ordering his own pint. “How was church this mornin’?” he asks and she shrugs.

“Same old crap about God,” she says. “Something about all love being equal.”

Harry laughs across the table. “Yeah except for when one of you isn’t rich,” he says and Zayn smiles sadly.

“Unfortunately I don’t think my parents have caught onto the fact that you can’t take your money with you to heaven.” Harry dips his head at her and gives her a half smile as Niall squeezes her hand gently. Louis and Liam pull up another two bar stools, Louis scraping hers loudly along the floor until Liam intervenes, picking up both of them and depositing them by the little table that they’re set up around.

“I think we need to have a toast,” Louis says, raising her pint in the air and the rest of them raise theirs in turn. Niall grins at Zayn who has gradually made the transition from drinking cocktails at the pub to drinking pints like the rest of them. “To Zayn,” Louis says.

“To the best Summer we could have ever hoped for,” Harry adds and Liam nods.

“To love.”

“To the love of my life,” Niall says finally and Louis cheers, clinking their glasses together before anyone else can add anything and Liam squeezes her knee under the table, trying to keep her in check, but really, there’s no hope of that when it comes to Louis.

The five of them spend a few hours there and order at least three bowls of chips, Zayn licking the salt off her fingers in a way that has Niall wishing she’s not leaving because he wants to learn every single one of her quirks and he hasn’t had the chance yet.

When the loud car horn beeps outside, Niall’s stomach turns and Zayn jumps, her eyes flicking out through the glass to where her parents’ car is parked by the curb. Her eyes grow sad and she smiles something that doesn’t reach her eyes. “Guess that’s my queue,” she says, standing up and accepting a hug from Harry and Liam with mumbles of how much she’ll miss them and that she hopes she’ll see them again soon. Louis envelops her in an embrace that looks almost painful and Zayn is laughing by the time she pulls away, smacking a kiss to Louis cheek that leaves a lipstick stain there.

“I’m never showering again!” Louis exclaims and Liam rolls his eyes affectionately.

When Zayn reaches Niall he grins at her. “C’mon,” he says. “I’ll walk you out.”

He kisses her long and hard right there in front of her dad, tipping her head back and chasing the taste of her on the roof of her mouth and the bottom of her tongue. “I love you,” he murmurs when he pulls back, pulling her tightly to his chest as though he’ll be able to soak her into his skin if she stays there long enough.

“Gotta go Ni,” she says and he sighs, letting her go and she steps away, turning to grin at her parents who are tutting their tongues at the display of affection, particularly with someone like Niall. He knows they don’t approve of him, but at this point, he doesn’t really care.

She’s in the car before he can blink and rolling the window down to kiss him one last time. She slips her hand into his and kisses it happily. “Best summer of my life,” she says and he grins.

“You’ll be back next year, yeah?” he asks as the car rumbles to life and he sees her open her mouth to answer him, but her reply is lost in the roar of the engine and then she’s pulling away, her hand waving wildly out the window as the car picks up speed down the road. Her nails are painted a delicious shade of red and he wonders how the hell he didn’t notice that when her fingers were linked with his. Then again, with Zayn, it’s been almost impossible to take everything in.

Niall is left feeling as though a hurricane has swept through his life.


End file.
